Thursday, 16 November 2023

Bills

Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023

Second reading

Debate resumed on motion of Lizzie Blandthorn:

That the bill be now read a second time.

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (14:37): I am pleased to rise and make a contribution to this bill, the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. There is a long history to container deposit legislation in this state. Many will remember the old days when a number of firms would distribute bottles and they would be brought back for washing and re-use. There are clearly sensible ways of organising our activities as a community – ways that actually reduce waste, reduce energy consumption and enable a lesser impact on our resources. The container deposit legislation idea has been a very strong one and a very popular one.

I should say that as the Shadow Minister for Environment in 2006 under the leadership of Ted Baillieu we went to the election with a clear policy for a legislated container deposit scheme (CDS) and a producer responsibility policy as well. The two were tied together. It was an incredibly popular policy. In my view, when in government we should have done it. We did not. But this government had been resistant to doing it as well until this very late point. South Australia had container deposit legislation in 1975, which is a long, long time ago.

Having said all of that as general background, I will make a couple of points: the concept is right, but the implementation by this government has been botched. This is the story of the Andrews government and now the Allan government. I do not regard Jacinta Allan as having primary responsibility here, to be entirely fair. But Premier Andrews, who was in at the time when this process was set in train, and Lily D’Ambrosio in particular have got to share the lion’s share of responsibility for the botched system that has been introduced and the process that has been incredibly blundering and incredibly slow.

We are seeing a bill here today which has retrospective effect, and that is pointed out by the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee report, if anyone wants to read it. The legislation is actually implementing what is meant to be in practice today. This is a government that cannot get its sequencing right. It cannot get its planning right. We saw the headlines in the Herald Sun where the government was caught out, caught on the back foot; they had just a single dispensing machine or collection machine in operation, yet they were within days of the scheme starting. The scramble began to try and retrofit and to backfill and to get sites up and running in whatever state of preparedness – in a rush, in a hurry – because of the incompetence of the minister, in particular the minister involved here, and the incompetence of the government as a whole. That is the story that is involved here.

In short, this introduces amendments to the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021. This imposes an operational cost for operating the CDS regulator, Recycling Victoria, on the beverage industry. There are real questions about how this is being implemented, there are real questions about the costs and there are real questions about how effective this will be in the long run. It is not that you cannot –

John Berger interjected.

David DAVIS: Well, the scheme has been a shambles to date, as you well know, as the community well knows. It has been an absolute shambles. You only need to see the introduction process of collection centres; it has not been what it should have been. The bill introduces recovery of Recycling Victoria’s costs in administering the waste-to-energy scheme through new periodic licence fees; it establishes the Recycling Victoria Fund and special purpose operating accounts to transparently fund RV’s operations under the CDS Victoria and waste-to-energy scheme; it grants the authority to set variable fees through regulations for applications and submissions under the act; and it claims it aims to reduce the risks for CDS Victoria by clarifying earlier legislative provisions. The amendments to the Environment Protection Act 2017 extend the powers of protective services officers and the Game Management Authority.

This goes back to 2020, when the government launched its Recycling Victoria: A New Economy policy. This is, as I say, the messy conclusion to the state government’s approach on this. This sets policy goals of: a 15 per cent reduction in total waste generation per capita between 2020 and 2030; diverting 80 per cent of waste from landfill by 2030, with an interim target of 72 per cent by 2025; cutting the volume of organic material going to landfill by 50 per cent between 2020 and 2030, with an interim target of 20 per cent reduction by 2025; and 100 per cent of households having access, it says, to a separate food and organics recovery service or local composting by 2030.

There was a parliamentary committee inquiry. Ms Bath and I were on it; we remember it well. It was clear even at that point that there was confusion in Labor. Different Labor members were voting in different places on different parts of the recommendations. I think ‘circus’ is probably too strong a word for it. It was arduous and it was surprising, and there was a little bit of confusion between Mr Melhem and others who were on that committee. I think he wanted to do the right thing through a lot of it, but others had a more ideological and less thoughtful view. We were very clear on that committee that we wanted to see proper work done to look at the costs and to constrain the impacts on particularly council rates and other costs that would be levied on people.

The government has chosen not to do that. It does not surprise me, given this government’s penchant for new taxes and new charges and new levies, that this will be regarded as a rich vein of additional revenue and resources. In time I predict that there will be a surge in charging and a surge in costs which will generate higher prices for consumers, and that is because the government has no capacity, in this bill or more generally, to constrain costs and keep proper control of the costs that are clobbering communities so hard.

The direction here is supported. As I say, I wrote the policy in 2006 on container deposits, and it was incredibly well received. I can tell you I had hundreds and hundreds of calls from across the state as people expressed their enthusiasm for it. This time I think the government is not doing it with such enthusiasm; there is rather less enthusiasm and rather more concern for where this will go. I will have a number of questions for the minister. I am not sure who that is; I would like to know who that minister is. If they could answer those questions ahead of time, we could perhaps avoid a committee stage. I am trying to be helpful here. Some of those questions will be about the slowness of the rollout, how many –

Jaclyn Symes: It’s Gayle.

David DAVIS: It’s Gayle, is it? Good, Minister Tierney. I will speak to Minister Tierney about a number of these questions as the debate proceeds and make sure that she has them. If she can assist with that, that would be helpful.

There are a couple of points that I want to make. This bill obviously amends the Environment Protection Act 2017 in a number of ways. The overarching concern here, though, is that costs are going to be slugged on the beverage industry and ultimately on consumers. The overarching failure of the implementation of CDS in Victoria – who can forget those immortal words, ‘crushing can blow’, which is what Alex White’s story described it as –

Jaclyn Symes interjected.

David DAVIS: The blow, I think, is what she was talking about. It was clear that the government did not have its ducks in line.

There are a couple of things I want to say. We want really significant transparency on how this will operate and the scale of the levy on individual firms. We want clarity into the longer run of the success or otherwise of the scheme. We would seek regular reporting from the government on the number of sites for collection and the number of sites that are actually operational, not just nominated by government. But, you know, it is a good scheme, poorly implemented, and there are real risks that what we will see is the costs will spiral out of control, as they have on almost every other project the Andrews and Allan Labor government have touched.

John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (14:49): I rise to speak on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. This important piece of legislation pertains to our vision of a cleaner and greener Victoria by amending prior acts to better enable relevant bodies to deliver on their goals and objectives. We want to reduce littering in this state, cut down on pollution and protect our environment, and this amendment bill will help us do this. This bill will make a series of amendments, and I am happy to stand behind all of them.

These amendments will target the Environment Protection Act 2017 and the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 to better the operations of those acts and to clarify costs associated with this important program, amongst other changes. These amendments are crucial to the delivery of our commitments to environmental action and protection. This bill will also clarify the arrangements around cost recovery in the container deposit scheme, writing in black and white that Recycling Victoria can fully recover the costs of regulating this scheme.

The container deposit scheme is our new scheme to encourage recycling and reduce litter and waste in our economy. I will talk a little bit about why I like the scheme in a moment, but I would like to thank former Minister for Environment Minister Stitt, who has done fantastic work in this field and should be proud of it. It will do wonders for our natural environment and tackle the serious issue of littering in Victoria. I would also like to thank Minister Dimopoulos in the other place, who I know will do great work on this scheme in the environment portfolio. This is a very important set of amendments, and the schemes themselves are crucial to building a better, greener future for Victoria. I have confidence that the minister will do the right thing not only for Victoria but for all Victorians as we push forward with our commitments to lowering waste and littering in Victoria and upholding environmental standards.

Victorians have been asking for a recycling scheme such as the container deposit scheme for some time, so I am happy to see it coming to fruition in November. In simple terms, whenever someone buys a drink, instead of tossing the can in the rubbish they can get a refund of 10 cents after they finish drinking it. It will be swift, but I note that it is not every single drink container out there that is eligible for a refund. These exchanges will happen primarily on containers for beer, soft drinks, mixed spirits and flavoured milk. All that Victorians must do to get their 10 cents per container is return those eligible cans, cartons and bottles to one of the conveniently located deposit points across Victoria. You can get a little reward for doing the right thing.

Users of these exchange points also get a choice between cashing in their refund of 10 cents per can or donating their refund to charity. The scheme will be largely operated by network operators who will organise and operate hundreds of these collection points and deposits across the state. There will also be three core operators: Tomra Cleanaway, Return-It and Visy. But it is not just the big operators running the show. Local community groups can receive container donations and run collection points themselves, too. This includes charities, small businesses, sports clubs and councils. There will be up to 600 different collection points across the state by August 2024 as well. And do not worry, it is not just for the built-up metropolitan areas, it is across the state, and there will be at least one per town of 750 people in regional Victoria. It will be good for the community, it will be good for the economy and it will be good for the environment – a win-win-win if you ask me.

We expect to cut littering in the state by up to half and create hundreds of new jobs and opportunities, not just in metropolitan Melbourne but all across Victoria, in the process. Through the container deposit scheme we will be recycling our old cans and bottles into new ones and creating a cleaner and greener state as a result. It is a great initiative from this government, and I encourage all Victorians to take part in the scheme by depositing containers at these points whenever possible instead of just throwing them out.

Victorians should also know that they can find the location of these numerous and plentiful refund points very easily – just head to the container deposit scheme’s website – that is, www.cdsvic.org.au, for all sites open from 1 November. Recycling Victoria will also be regulating the scheme, and this bill will ensure that we help cover the cost of it. Recycling Victoria will be paid the existing cost recovery fee by the scheme coordinator, VicReturn. That is already the case of course, but this amendment will write it into the legislation for certainty. There are also various minor amendments to the operations of the container deposit scheme to minimise any operational risks that may arise, providing the coordinator with more flexibility. This is a wideranging program with different operators across the state, so improving the efficiency of all of it is in our best interests. We are also allowing for recurring fees to be set periodically, which will cover part or all of the ongoing rolling costs of Recycling Victoria’s monitoring and enforcement operations for the waste-to-energy scheme.

The bill will also enable regulations to set variable fees for determining applications made under the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 based around conditions such as the time taken to determine the application. Some may be wary or confused as to why we are introducing these fees, but as I have already said and will reiterate, the fees are intended to help cover the costs of these operations. This is an important job, and we want Recycling Victoria to not be overburdened with monitoring and enforcing our laws. That is the purpose of the fees. It is not to punish you or anyone else for doing the right thing; it is to make sure that Recycling Victoria can recover the costs of operating the scheme and enforcing it.

We want our vision of a circular economy with the vast recycling system to be in place to run as smoothly as possible with operational risks and concerns kept to a minimum. That is why this amendment bill is not just some fringe modifications around the edges, it paves the way for this scheme and recycling to be more flexible and efficient.

This bill will establish a Recycling Victoria Fund. It will be divided into two separate sections, each to help with the cost recovery of both the container deposit scheme and the waste-to-energy scheme respectively, helping with those operations and delivery of those programs as a result by saving costs. I think this is a good idea and will help Recycling Victoria deliver the container deposit scheme and waste-to-energy scheme Victorians have been asking for.

This bill also introduces a series of amendments to the Environment Protection Act 2017. We are aiming to improve the operations of our environment protection agency and make its operations smoother and clearer by clarifying elements of the 2017 act and adding amendments to clarify any overlapping issues or disputes. We will establish how the EPA and other organisations can work together to accomplish their established task. That way the EPA can continue to do the hard work that it has always done, smoother, better and faster. Under these amendments it is made clear that liquidators are not personally liable for any onsite clean-up costs incurred by the EPA in the event of insolvency. That resolves a degree of ambiguity in the legislation and makes it clear that the work of the EPA and its costs do not fall into the lap of the liquidators. They are not responsible for the work of the EPA; the EPA is. The EPA will also be able to now charge interest for late payment fees, as amended in the Environment Protection Act.

The authorised officers appointed under the Game Management Authority (GMA) are litter enforcement officers under the Environment Protection Act, and protective services officers in Victoria that already have certain powers under the Environment Protection Act are also litter enforcement officers. They will have the power to submit reports about noisy vehicles, and the EPA in turn will have the power to now issue written notices to a person to present their vehicle for inspection.

Victorians should be proud of the EPA. After all, since its establishment in 1970 it has helped protect Victoria’s environment to the best of its ability. Not many people know this, but the Victorian EPA is one of the oldest environmental regulatory authority agencies in the world. Today this amendment bill will continue to build on its legacy, helping build up the EPA through changes to the legislation.

These changes were put together with thorough consultation, which brings me to consultation, an important cornerstone of any good legislation. These amendments were made together with a vast consultation within not just private industry but the EPA and the relevant departments, and I am quite proud of that. We consulted with the departments pertaining to these schemes and programs, and I am happy to report on those discussions here today. The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action has met with the contracted parties for the program and discussed the bill and the resulting amendments in depth. DEECA will also be engaging with existing operations in the scheme about these amendments, which ought to be uncontroversial and promote the common good. DEECA has consulted with the Department of Treasury and Finance. They are happy to see that this bill is helping enable cost recovery and the establishment of the Recycling Victoria Fund. And of course DEECA has spoken to the environment protection agency and consulted with them thoroughly, so it is no surprise that the EPA supports all of the amendments we are proposing here today as well. It not only makes their job simpler, but it also clears up vagueness and ambiguity in the legislation which we have endeavoured to clean up and clarify. It will improve efficiency, cooperation and flexibility in our organised plan for a circular economy to tackle waste and littering in Victoria by making GMA-appointed authorised officers litter enforcement officers, and the same goes for protective services officers over at Victoria Police.

We are loosening up the bureaucracy, which not only expands the number of littering enforcement officers at our disposal but also improves coordination and enforcement between the various agencies in the state. It is quite creative really. By doing this we better our coordination, making the process more efficient, improving enforcement standards although adding a couple of clauses. Then of course there are amendments in this bill too numerous and too specific to get into here in my limited time, but those will crystallise the actions and intentions of clauses in the bill and will make for smoother operations going forward. This includes but is not limited to amending the definition of ‘material recovery facility’ to ensure that recyclers that do not fall under the current definition will continue to be able to operate under this scheme for container deposit recycling and other provisions such as the amendment stating that from here on out there is a scheme coordinator’s fee. The fee that is set out can differ depending on the differences in time, place, circumstances and the costs associated performing the duties related to administering this very important deposit scheme.

The consultation for these amendments has been robust and thorough, unquestionably. They were written after consulting with not just departments but the statutory bodies involved and the key private stakeholders in the matter. It is why we have provisions for everyone involved – to ensure nobody is losing out and everyone has some of their issues or concerns addressed. We are making it easier for Recycling Victoria to enforce what they have been asking with the fees. We are making it easier for the environment protection agency to enforce its standards, all while making the operations of the incoming container deposit scheme efficient and operationally smoother. We all benefit from these three pillars of the circular economy working in tandem and in cooperation, getting on with the job effectively together. That is why we are working hard to ensure that the program, throughout its development and implementation process, is being carried out properly and in close talks with stakeholders.

There has been significant engagement with the sector and relevant operators throughout all of this. These amendments ought not to be a shock to the system but a welcomed effort, with amendments crafted with due respect and cooperation in a manner that the statutory bodies and private industry can get behind. I am proud of the good work done by Recycling Victoria, the scheme coordinator, VicReturn and the various operators across the state preparing to deliver the container deposit scheme. None of this would be possible if it was not for their hard work and willingness to cooperate and the cooperation of our scheme operators, and for that I thank them. I am also proud of the work the environment protection agency has done for this state, and I am confident in their ability going forward to continue to ensure effective enforcement of standards and to act on their core duties. I also extend my thanks to the EPA for their work. You all deserve to have a government that stands behind you and behind the work that you have helped accomplish. I am glad to stand here in support of this amendment bill, which will make it all just that little bit easier for you. With the promise of better outcomes for all, I commend the bill to the chamber.

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (15:03): I rise to speak on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. On 1 November, the first day of the container deposit scheme’s operation, there was no celebration from this Labor government. This is because over the past three weeks the government has been incredibly embarrassed by the rollout, or lack of it, of the container deposit scheme, despite having had five years to plan it. You would think that with a five-year lead-up the government would have had every opportunity to develop and implement policy to ensure its success. But the rollout of the container deposit scheme has been pure chaos. On the grand opening day less than half of the 600 consumer collection point sites had been publicly confirmed; no commercial agreement had been put in place with businesses who produce the bulk of the container waste; and there was no consideration of the cost-of-living impact on consumers of a scheme that is designed to impose operational costs on the beverage community, who will in turn need to pass those costs on to consumers.

So in this cost-of-living crisis that we have, here is another area where the government is just going to make sure the consumers pay more. The cost recovery for the waste-to-energy scheme, which this bill enables, and the introduction of periodic fees being applied to waste-to-energy licence holders under the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 mean that these recurring fees set by subsequent regulations aim to recover ongoing costs related to the regulator’s monitoring, compliance and enforcement activities for the waste-to-energy scheme.

We know that this government is incapable of managing any project at all. Every project blows out in budget and in time. So we can rest assured and consumers can all be comforted by the fact that these costs will increase inevitably under this government. They are totally incompetent in managing anything. But, guess what, fee setting will adhere to the Victorian government’s pricing-for-value principles. They are a wonderful new monstrosity, I would have thought, the government’s pricing-for-value principles. It sounds good, but I have never seen this government manage to get value for anything when they do anything. So this will be a new opportunity for the government to show us how the pricing-for-value principles work.

It also sets up the Recycling Victoria Fund with dedicated accounts for the container deposit scheme in Victoria and the waste-to-energy scheme. Without these changes, fees would go to the state’s consolidated revenue. Goodness me, I am sure we will still find they go there. But anyway, it requires Recycling Victoria to seek additional funding through the annual state budget process. The establishment of the fund does not protect funds raised. There is no guarantee that the funds raised will be hypothecated into the recycling fund, because we have seen what happens when the government want to raid a piggy bank. They did it with the TAC. So we can have all these nice words, but in reality we will see inevitably something different eventuate, because when this government runs out of money they will certainly need to find more in every piggy bank they have got squirrelled away, and this will be just another one.

This bill introduces amendments to the Environment Protection Act 2017 and clarifies that liquidators cannot be personally liable for EPA clean-up costs. It allows the EPA to delegate powers under the act and enables the EPA to issue inspection notices for vehicles and charge interest for late fees.

It is now five years after China announced the rejection of Victorian waste – quite rightly, probably. Why should we be exporting our waste to another country? And the Labor government has still not operationalised the container deposit scheme. So we are in this situation where five years ago we said we would do all this and we would fix the problem, but we are still short of 300 container deposit scheme collection points. But these amendments impose the full operational costs – and goodness me, this government managing anything will have a cost blowout in their bureaucracy inevitably. These amendments will allow full operational costs for the container deposit scheme to be leveraged onto the beverage industry. The industry has said that if consumers receive a 10 per cent rebate on return of a container, the scheme will force a 12.8 per cent increase on an average product. This comes a time when we know cost of living – not climate change – is the emergency facing every Victorian. Cost of living – so here we go. We are going to have a 12.8 per cent increase, on average, of any product relevant to this container deposit scheme. It will not be good for family budgets at this time. Under this scheme a 12.8 per cent increase will be charged for the average can of beverage. So there we are, we have got the 12.8 per cent increase, of which the consumer can get 10 cents back.

The bill extends the powers of protective services officers and the Game Management Authority officers, no less, so they will be authorised as litter enforcement officers, empowering them to address littering. There has been consultation, but the industry have confirmed their intention to pass the scheme costs back to the consumer.

I am a great fan of waste to energy. I have inspected waste-to-energy plants in the UK and Scandinavia, and I cannot for the life of me think of a reason why we do not have waste to energy as a key priority in this country and in this state in particular. I have a proposed plant for waste to energy in Lara, which is encountering no end of obstacles to get off the ground. I do not understand why anybody, especially the Greens who sit over there, think it is a good idea to put waste into the ground and create methane when you can dispose of waste through waste-to-energy plants. There is nowhere better than Scandinavia – who have stringent environmental regulations – to see that there is no pollution to the air and no noise pollution or anything in these plants. I saw in London where 30 per cent of London’s waste was transported down the Thames to the plant, and there was no dust, no smell and no evaporation. Of course there will not be, because environmental standards everywhere have worked out over the last couple of decades how you can do waste to energy very effectively and efficiently and without any pollution.

That is what we should be embracing: waste to energy. I am fully supportive of any proposal that will increase our energy supply in this state, as we debated yesterday, but also any proposal that will see the environment being better looked after by our not putting our waste in the ground but instead using it to create energy. While the coalition are supporting the changes to the act, we should be cognisant of the fact that this is just another cost to consumers and there is no guarantee that the money generated will end up being used for any productive purpose to ensure that we have a better use of waste.

Jacinta ERMACORA (Western Victoria) (15:14): The Allan government is investing to transform our throwaway economy into one where waste is eliminated, resources are circulated and nature is regenerated. The circular economy gives us the tools to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss together, while addressing important social needs. It gives us the power to grow prosperity, jobs and resilience while cutting greenhouse gas emissions, waste and pollution. In our current economy we take materials from the earth, we make products from them and eventually – even rapidly – we throw them away as waste. It is quite linear. In a circular economy, by contrast, we stop waste by making sure it is not produced in the first place – that it is re-used in the first place.

Make no mistake, investing and changing our processes to implement a circular economy is critical for our future as we adapt to climate change. What we do now to deal with climate change will indeed be life changing, particularly for our children and our grandchildren and hopefully for future generations. We need to act, and by being smart, investing and changing habits, we are making and will make a difference. Recycling will have significant benefits for the world, including economically, as will waste-to-energy technologies, which are rapidly advancing. This bill is designed to help us close the loop – to quite genuinely clean things up.

Back in 2021 the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 delivered on key commitments made in Recycling Victoria: A New Economy, including the establishment of the container deposit scheme. The subsequent Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Act 2022 amended the circular economy act to deliver additional reforms from that policy, including the waste-to-energy scheme. This bill introduces amendments to the circular economy act that address issues identified during the implementation of the container deposit scheme and the waste-to-energy scheme to mitigate risks to the operation of the schemes and to clarify and streamline the operation of the circular economy act. The amendments to the Environment Protection Act 2017 followed its commencement on 1 July 2021. The subsequent technical and clarifying amendments made through the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Act aimed to enhance the operation of that act and continue its effective implementation.

The bill will amend the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 to do the following: clarify the cost recovery arrangements for the container deposit scheme; minimise operational risks for the container deposit scheme to support the scheme and to ensure it operates as intended; and provide for a mechanism to recover the costs of Recycling Victoria in administering the waste-to-energy scheme by enabling periodic licence fees to be set in regulations. It establishes the Recycling Victoria Fund with special purpose operating accounts to support Recycling Victoria to recover costs and fund its operations under the CDS and the waste-to-energy scheme. It enables regulations to set variable fees for determining applications made or submissions received under that act. It also gives better effect to the intent of the Environment Protection Act and ensures its operation and effectiveness.

In short, the amendments in this bill support the investment and process needed to increase our ability to manufacture and use goods in a circular economy. The examples of investments in our circular economy are already exciting. I am not surprised by the incredibly quick uptake of the container deposit scheme already. Just days after its launch, on 12 November, the Warrnambool Standard reported:

Warrnambool residents, charities and community groups are cashing in through the state’s new container deposit scheme with more than $22,000 of refunds received.

I am already hearing stories of grateful community groups receiving funds, as well as kids – hello, Henry. Young Henry was spotted at the machine, topping up his pocket money. Some of the organisations set to benefit from the donations include Warrnambool & District Community Hospice, the Warrnambool Gift Committee, Hamilton Bowling Club and Koroit-based rescue and rehabilitation centre Mosswood Wildlife. This scheme is a great example of the circular economy having added benefits. It is creating 600 more jobs across the state as it reduces the state’s litter by up to a half. It is better these jobs are created here than in China – our waste was formerly taken to China.

In Western Victoria the container deposit scheme is being implemented by Tomra. The CEO of Tomra James Dorney said:

We have tasked ourselves with providing meaningful and skilled circular economy jobs across the ‘West Zone’ of CDS Vic that fulfil a diverse range of tasks and ultimately achieve positive social, environmental and economic benefits to all.

This is the kind of clever policy the Allan Labor government does. It has got an economic policy arm as it stimulates the economy and creates jobs, it has got a significant environmental benefit in reducing our state’s litter by up to half and it is achieving social benefits through community groups being empowered, and social enterprises being actively involved, in the rollout of the container deposit scheme. It is also flexible, with a variety of options for how Victorians can return their eligible containers. Reverse vending machines, depots, over-the-counter sites and pop-up refund points offer people four different ways to recycle.

Just last week I saw this clever policy fulfilled firsthand. In Warrnambool the depot drop-off point for recycling chosen by Tomra is located at the Big R’s Shed in Albert Street. The Big R’s Shed is a not-for-profit social enterprise committed to developing pathways and unlocking the potential in the community. They have a big focus on sustainability, and they offer people with a disability work in areas that reflect the big four Rs of a circular economy: re-use, recycle, repurpose and restore. Paul Hughes, their general manager of social enterprises, was so chuffed to show us the depot and the designated area for the container deposit scheme. People are able to drive right into the depot with their cars and utes and access the sorting machine shed. The containers are simply tipped into the sorting machine and scanned, with the magnetic sorting capability able to separate the different types of plastic and aluminium. Once sorted the products are weighed, and you can even, very simply, be paid through the CDS Vic West app. All of this was demonstrated by me in a Facebook post where in a video I showed how that can happen. You tip a whole bulk container into the machine rather than putting individual containers into the slots.

It is terrific that we are able to use state-of-the-art technology to implement these actions in our circular economy. Paul told us that one man had come in as soon as the depot opened. He had been saving up for some time, and his ute was full of woolpacks containing eligible containers. He left the depot with $900 in his pocket. In other words, he dropped in 9000 containers that would have otherwise ended up in landfill, on the side of the road or in China. Dropping into the depot was most definitely the best way for him to go. Paul Hughes said that Are-able are so proud to be part of the container deposit scheme. He said:

This initiative will add value to the circular economy and enhance our recycling capabilities while providing quality employment for people with disabilities in our community.

Another very innovative and exciting example of the circular economy in the south-west is Sustainable Plastic Solutions, based near Hamilton. I was blown away when I visited Sustainable Plastic Solutions, where they are truly being innovative and converting recycled agricultural and industrial plastics back into high-grade resins. I saw old farm baler twine being converted. It was going in one end of the machine, and resin beads were coming out the other end – made to order for the customer of this business. This fits into their ethos for the environment – that plastics continue to be used rather than downcycled. For Sustainable Plastic Solutions an essential component of plastic recycling in a circular economy is that the company does not work on a push model. This means they do not create recycled resin and then hope that someone will come and buy it, rather they ask their customers what they require and create the resin to meet their needs. As Elisha Nettleton, owner of Sustainable Plastic Solutions and quality and R and D manager, told me, it is only through a true circular plastics economy putting products back into their original applications that we will be able to tackle or eliminate our plastic solution challenges and drive investment in the industry. This circular economy provides the balancing of the ledger between what is produced and what is recycled.

These examples are a fantastic demonstration of the level of investment in the circular economy that is happening in the south-west. In the case of Sustainable Plastic Solutions – in the Shire of Southern Grampians, right next to Hamilton – that business is absolutely amazing. They are also including plastic silage wrap, farm tarpaulins and, as I said before, baler twine, and they were converting right before my eyes those products into re-usable resin beads. Then at Are-able it was so delightful to see people working in all the different parts of that organisation and having a meaningful task and occupation in contributing to our economy, being occupied and skilled and respected for the work that they were doing and also, because of the container deposit scheme, contributing to the environmental and positive outcomes for our community. I do congratulate the business of Sustainable Plastic Solutions, and I also congratulate Are-able and all of the employees and staff at Are-able in Warrnambool for the work that they are doing. I commend this bill.

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (15:28): I am pleased to be able to speak today on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. This bill essentially creates the mechanism that will allow the new Victorian container deposit scheme to function. It makes a series of amendments to existing legislation for managing waste and recycling in Victoria. Amendments to the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 include imposing the operational costs for operating the container deposit scheme incurred by the regulator, Recycling Victoria, on the beverage industry; introducing new periodic licence fees that will allow Recycling Victoria to recover costs; establishing the Recycling Victoria Fund and special purpose operating accounts; granting the authority to set variable fees through regulations for applications and submissions under the act; and aiming to reduce the operational risk for CDS Vic – the container deposit scheme – by clarifying earlier legislative provisions.

Well, it is bizarre that we are debating this bill two weeks after the container deposit scheme launched on 1 November. It is another example of poor management under this government that we are now playing catch-up with this legislation. Excuse the pun, but you could say the rollout has been a bit rubbish. Despite these shortcomings, I know a lot of people who are very keen to do the right thing and recycle their cans, bottles and containers. The return of the container deposit scheme is a policy that the Nationals and Liberals announced almost four years ago, and it is good to see Labor recycling by adopting this policy too.

To receive a small payment for recycling is a great incentive. It is common sense, and it helps care for our environment. Just recently I spoke at Victory Christian College school in Bendigo, and students were very excited about the prospect of being able to recycle their cans and bottles and asked lots of great questions. Many had loaded up bags with containers ready to recycle, and other students were very keen to find out where to go to drop off their recycling. I can tell you: www.cdsvic.org.au if you are interested. There are a range of sites slowly being rolled out. Most aluminium, glass, plastic and liquid carton drink containers between 150 millilitres and 3 litres are eligible. You can keep the lids on. Do not crush your cans. The website recommends you do not crush your containers, as most refund points cannot accept them if they are crushed. There is also a list on the website of what is not permitted, including plain milk or cordial containers and wine bottles.

In Bendigo the launch of the long-awaited container deposit scheme was far from smooth, with limited trading hours and one site not being open to the public until later this month. The refund systems on the reverse vending machines were not functioning correctly, and staff were forced to scramble around to find cash to give people to reimburse them for their returned containers. In one case a worker was providing cash from his own wallet.

I note the container deposit scheme website encourages people to take photos and tag and share them on social media, but unfortunately under this government it does not seem to apply to MPs. I was certainly very keen to promote the scheme, but when a member of my team went to take a photo, they were told, ‘No, it’s a government program,’ and we were not permitted to take photos. I have no idea why they were trying to be so secretive, but it seems to be the culture under this government. We were told to make an appointment to come back and that they would first need to seek approval from various government departments for me to visit and it could take a couple of weeks. Unbelievable.

But the Herald Sun has also reported major problems with the rollout of the new system. Some reverse vending machines have reportedly already gone offline. There have been a range of faults and problems in multiple locations. There are also claims the system is pushing up the price of beverages. This is because the amendments impose the full operational cost for the CDS onto the beverage industry. These additional costs to consumers will come at a very difficult time for many family budgets. According to the Herald Sun, machines have been vandalised, run out of power, filled with rubbish and manipulated by people trying to dupe the devices for money by inserting ineligible objects. A machine was taped up days after it opened, with no signage as to when it would be back online.

Now, you may recall the confusion that arose in 2018 when China’s policy dramatically cut the amount of waste taken from Victoria. It certainly caused chaos here in Victoria. A massive 1.27 million tonnes of paper, plastic and cardboard that had been sent overseas every year then had nowhere to go, including 30 per cent of all recycling collected from Victorian households. So that was five years ago, and the state government has been very slow to act.

In Victoria recycling has a long way to go. I received my fourth bin recently for organics, along with a number of other people in the local community, but it is interesting speaking with local councils to note that there is no flexibility with the introduction of these bins. Even if you have chickens on your property or have a large property and do not need an organics bin, you will receive one and pay for it. So the state government introduces the policy, and the council receives support for the purchase of the bin, but the ongoing cost of collection across hundreds and hundreds of kilometres for the various bins is a cost that local councils are expected to carry, and of course this cost flows on to ratepayers, who are already struggling with rising living costs. Now, this may not be a big imposition on city-based councils where bins are very close together – they could be just a few metres apart – but in rural areas they are not just metres apart, it is many, many kilometres between bins, and the ongoing costs to small councils are much greater.

It has taken years for this government to introduce the container deposit scheme and finally catch up to other states like South Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, ACT and Western Australia, which all have the schemes in place. In Victoria to date only around half of the 600 consumer locations have been announced, but I remain optimistic about the potential of the container deposit scheme to make a positive impact in Victoria. It has potential environmental benefits as well as generating jobs in the region and providing an opportunity for community groups to fundraise. Charities, schools and community groups looking to raise funds should consider this scheme and invite supporters to donate their refunds or containers. This scheme has been a success in other states, increasing and encouraging recycling and reducing landfill, but now the state government must step up to ensure the container deposit scheme is effective and delivers on its objectives in Victoria.

Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (15:35): I am pleased to rise to speak on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. The legislation amends the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 to clarify cost recovery for the container deposit scheme and minimise operational costs for the Victorian CDS, the container deposit scheme, to support the scheme and to ensure it operates as intended. It will also provide a mechanism to recover the costs of Recycling Victoria in administering the waste-to-energy scheme, establish a Recycling Victoria Fund to recover costs and fund its operations under the container deposit scheme and waste-to-energy scheme, enable regulations to set variable standards for determining applications made or submissions received under the act and further amend the Environment Protection Act 2017 to give better effect to the intent of that act and to enhance its operation and effectiveness.

It is important this legislation is before us, because it is important that the Parliament irons out some of the issues that were identified in the implementation of the container deposit and waste-to-energy schemes, particularly because the container deposit scheme is proving such a hit with Victorians. It has only been a couple weeks, and already you can see from the activity at the collection sites and the enthusiasm of people on social media and in community organisations and in the way that people are rethinking what they do with their cans or bottles when they finish drinking from them that this scheme is having an impact. You can probably hear it clinking in the piggy banks of many of the people who have got money coming back into their bank accounts as a result of the containers that they have deposited at the depots and at the drop-off points in the scheme. It has been a hit. It has been a long time coming – a long time coming back.

Sonja Terpstra: We wanted to make sure we got it right.

Ryan BATCHELOR: We wanted to make sure we got it right – absolutely, Ms Terpstra. There is no doubt that what we have seen in the last couple of weeks is indicative of how much support there is for this scheme out there in the community, and making sure that we get those implementation details right is critically important for the government. That is why this legislation is important – to facilitate the smooth implementation of the scheme.

The commencement of the container deposit scheme cements Victoria’s position as a leader in the nation on waste management and a leader in how we approach the questions of the circular economy. Not only do people want to play their part at an individual level in helping reduce the waste that goes to landfill, but they want to do their part by making sure that we get the most out of the materials that we are using by re-using them where we can. And we know that things like aluminium cans have a very high recycle usage in the circular economy. We know that glass bottles, for example, and other sorts of bottles have an enormous contribution to make to be repurposed into new forms of goods. So people want to play their part in reducing waste going to landfill and creating a circular economy that extracts the value out of these materials, supports new industries right here in Victoria and supports the jobs that go with them.

Nothing more sums up the attitude of the Labor government to these sorts of public policy questions than enabling people to do their bit for the environment and helping to support industry to create jobs. Right across public policy domains, that is the approach that we take: helping people to play their part, supporting new industries and creating more jobs. You see it time and time again, and here in the circular economy we are absolutely doing it, and what it is doing is transforming our recycling sector.

We have already invested more than $300 million in a range of significant reforms helping to make the shift across the state towards a circular economy. As we mentioned at the start, the most obvious and tangible example to households at the moment, this month in particular, has been the launch of the container deposit scheme, which gives Victorians 10 cents back for every eligible can, carton and bottle that they return. It is changing attitudes, it is changing behaviours and it is creating new, innovative systems to enable the capture of those materials and get them back to depots. It will invigorate existing businesses and it will create new ones, and accompanying every step of the way are the jobs that it creates.

The bill will introduce another couple of amendments to help ease some of the issues that have been identified in the transition and the implementation of the container deposit scheme and also in the waste-to-energy schemes. It will deal with some matters that will better enable Recycling Victoria, which is a body that we have set up to help the industry deal with these issues; set appropriate licensing fees to recover costs from beverage producers, helping to fund its operations; and ensure that recipients of remedial notices can pass them on to polluters and that certain authorised officers and protective services officers have the authority to act as litter enforcement officers. Further, it is going to assist the CDS by amending the circular economy act to clarify cost recovery arrangements to fully recover costs to Recycling Victoria, who regulate the container deposit scheme, and establishing a clear legislative basis for the existing contractual cost recovery fee being paid by the scheme coordinator to Recycling Victoria. In effect what we are doing here with this legislation is giving a legislative guarantee, legislative surety, legislative protection, to a set of contractual arrangements that are already in place between the container deposit scheme coordinator and Recycling Victoria.

I mentioned earlier that right across Victoria in the last couple of weeks and in the weeks preceding we have seen people become enthused about recycling their containers. One of the great examples we saw recently was a young kid called Ashton, who lives in Bentleigh in the Southern Metropolitan Region; I know my colleague the member for Bentleigh caught up with Ashton recently. I am sure his parents will be happy that the container deposit scheme is now up and running, because the eager beaver that Ashton is, he collected 4000 bottles and cans before the start of the scheme on 1 November. He was interviewed on the telly, on the evening news, and you could see how neatly those containers were amassing themselves on his parents’ property. The garage was looking somewhat full in the lead-up to 1 November. Interestingly, Ashton’s parents, clearly loving and caring and supportive of their son’s endeavours, went through their workplaces collecting cans and bottles and they were bringing them home. But I am sure the family is glad that the scheme is operational now, because I suspect they have got more of their garage and more of their house back from the bags and boxes of cans that Ashton had been accumulating. He had 4000 before the scheme started. The enthusiasm clearly is infectious for Ashton because his plan is to get to 10,000 next year, and I have no doubt that he will be able to do that. The stories like that of Ashton and his family, who are embracing this scheme, show just how excited Victorians are for its implementation and its operation. Those scenes are going to be repeated again and again across Victoria as the scheme rolls out.

One of the benefits that the scheme has in its design and operation is that people have got a choice about how they allocate the returns that they receive from the container deposit scheme. Industrious kids like Ashton can use those returns to buy the next Lego set that they want, but others who might have a different approach to these things can work with a local community group or work with a local charity to facilitate and support community organisations that they consider to be important and who do good work in their local area by allocating the 10 cents per can or per container to that community group and raising vitally important funds. They may not be grand amounts every time, but every little bit adds up for the community groups right across all of our communities who stand to benefit when they get nominated as a community group who can receive funds. It provides us as individuals with the choice about how we want to allocate our funds. It is presenting new opportunities for industrious kids, it is supporting local clubs and it is supporting local community groups to get a little bit extra coming in through their door. Fundamentally the container deposit scheme is also allowing us to accelerate our path towards a more circular economy, getting more materials that would have been going to landfill diverted and making better use of what they seek to do.

The other thing which I will spend a couple of minutes on is the set of arrangements relating to cost recovery for the waste-to-energy scheme. The bill will amend the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 to allow for periodic, recurring fees to be charged to waste-to-energy licence holders. We know that what the Circular Economy Act in its principal operation has facilitated in Victoria are schemes that allow Recycling Victoria to engage in regulatory measures to support waste-to-energy projects. What has become clear as that has been rolled out and implemented is that currently, while Recycling Victoria can charge a one-off licence application fee and amendment fees, there is no provision in the current arrangement for fees to be levied that cover the ongoing costs of the regulator’s monitoring, compliance and enforcement functions. When it was established, there were effectively establishment fees put in place. We cannot just tick something off at the start, check it once and then forget. The regulator has an ongoing job – Recycling Victoria has an ongoing job – in ensuring that the waste-to-energy operators and the waste-to-energy schemes are compliant with necessary regulations and that things are being done properly. That is what people would expect the oversight body to be doing, and one of the amendments in this legislation is to ensure that they have got the necessary funds to do that through an ongoing cost recovery arrangement set at appropriate levels in accordance with the government’s pricing for value principles.

The last couple of things the bill is going to do is establish the Recycling Victoria Fund, which will include a special purpose operating account for CDS Vic and the waste-to-energy scheme, enabling the revenue collected through those cost recovery arrangements to be set aside in the Recycling Victoria Fund rather than having them flow into consolidated revenue. So it is protecting the money that is being raised through these new, additional levels for the purposes for which they are intended, and that is to ensure ongoing compliance and regulation of these aspects of our circular economy.

The bill is a sensible update to the implementation arrangements for what are proving to be wildly popular and successful changes that are giving Victorians an incentive to recycle – bring their cans back and get cash for them – and I know there are going to be a lot more kids like Ashton doing that collecting in years to come.

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (15:50): I am pleased to rise to discuss the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. It has been most interesting to listen to the debate so far. It is a bill that encompasses a number of aspects, and certainly my colleagues Mr David Davis, Mrs McArthur and indeed in a very good contribution Mrs Gaelle Broad thoroughly investigated and interrogated the container deposit scheme, as have members of the government. I will not at this particular point in the day delve back into those issues – I think they have been well canvassed – other than to say that I certainly was part of the 2019 waste and resource recovery inquiry of the Environment and Planning Committee and had the opportunity to go to New South Wales and look at their container deposit scheme, noting very positively that all schemes usually have teething troubles. New South Wales was not exempt from that, but one of the key factors in that container deposit scheme – the positive, the benefit, the outcome – was a reduction in waste, in rubbish, working its way into the state’s water systems, rivers and streams and then out into the ocean. So it was really good to see that come to fruition.

I know the current government implemented the container deposit scheme starting in November, this month, and it has had more than its fair share of teething troubles. As I have said, Mr Davis has canvassed that, so I will move on to a specific area of interest of mine, and that is to talk about the circular economy and the importance of using Victoria’s resources in the best possible way to indeed avoid the by-products of manufacturing, industry and human life in the first place if we can and be smarter and not just use up these resources but see how we can reduce them. I know every schoolchild in Victoria has probably had those lessons in their classes about how to reduce the amount of products that we use, re-use and recycle.

Also, that recycling component is very, very important. You only have to go to your local transfer station – for me, I live in South Gippsland – to see the evolution. Once upon a time it was a bit of a dump-all. Now we see that there are highly organised transfer stations taking not only cardboard and paper but batteries, glass and metal for recycling and green waste of course – that is a regular trip, and particularly at this time of the year you take your green waste there. There is also – I know the South Gippsland shire does it very well – e-waste recycling. It is always good to plug them and the work they do in recycling all of our modern-day society products. We should continue to do that.

Of course there is always the balance of the cost of taking your recyclables to the tip versus those people who in the end just cannot seem to afford to do that and dump it. There needs to be that tension and that balance between being able to provide the service and still having the majority of the population taking that service up and being prepared to pay for that. Also, the whole idea of custodianship and through manufacturing being able to recycle goods – these are all very much the modern way that we need to be.

The landfill issue is of course, in the hierarchy of waste and recycling, the last option in that hierarchy which sane, sensible and modern societies should be focused on. We do not want landfill. We need to remove that as much as possible. We see certainly in Europe, where there is energy-from-waste technology – that is the way I prefer to say it, ‘energy from waste’ – incredibly good outcomes and diminished percentages of landfill through that whole recycle scheme. I note – and this was in the report that the 2019 committee came up with – that certainly some of the top 10 European countries have reduced their municipal waste that cannot be recycled any further down to at least 10 per cent. On average what is happening in these top 10 countries across Europe is we are seeing landfill being down to 3 per cent. Just imagine that – 3 per cent of waste going to landfill. In some of those countries you are seeing 46 per cent in energy-from-waste facilities and 51 per cent recycling and composting that green waste as well. Now, that is what we should be aspiring to. What we see by comparison in Victoria at the moment is zero per cent of that municipal red-bin waste that cannot be further recycled going to energy-from-waste facilities. We also see that recycling and composting is around 40 per cent, yet still we are looking at upwards of 60 per cent going to landfill. I am sure I have made my point there.

Also on the issues around landfill, we know that there is methane production from landfill. If that landfill is highly evolved, you can trap that methane and use it in production. The idea ultimately, though, is not to have that methane produced in the first place, and that is where you can get that percentage right down. We also know that on the eastern side of the city we have got Hampton Park landfill reaching its capacity in the next few years, and that is going to be a solid waste management crisis, an issue that we need to address.

Also, as part of this whole discussion indeed on those European countries, I have heard members of the Greens et cetera have the discussion around incineration. It is not like the 1950s, when Mum and Dad had the incinerator in the backyard and would burn all the rubbish and that was the done thing. These are highly evolved, highly state-of-the-art closed-circuit incinerators, where you get thermal energy, you can have steam and then you can also produce electricity. And going back to these modern European energy-from-waste facilities, they are safe, they are clean and they do meet those most stringent standards.

Indeed the very important part that I would like to get to today is talking about the Opal facility in Maryvale, on the outskirts of Morwell, which has been working towards this basically almost since I have come in, so it would be almost eight years. They have been planning, they have taken it through various stages and they have got green lights all the way, and I am here to support that energy-from-waste facility. At its peak, if it comes to fruition, we are looking at diverting 325,000 tonnes of waste from landfill annually through that really highly evolved system. We also know that the Opal plant – Australian Paper, as it has been called in the past – has been a key business that has been a massive employer over more than 80 years in the Latrobe Valley. We know that the government has shut down the native timber industry and that has constrained supply around white paper. It is very sad. I have got a box of Reflex that was part of that recycled Reflex paper, and I should keep it for posterity because we are no longer going to make white paper in Australia or Victoria. But one of the key things is that it is still a massive employer, because through changing society we are using more and more and more specialised cardboard and packaging that is still needing to come from trees and more often than ever from the plantation industry. They still need energy. Certainly Australian Paper is a very high user of natural gas. If they can get the energy-from-waste program up and running, it will mean a reduction in that usage of natural gas, which has to be good for everyone because it is back into the market, and it is also reducing those carbon dioxide emissions. The EPA – there has been a stringent process in terms of the works approval for Australian Paper’s project, and it does meet the highest standards. I just want to reassure people of that. These are the facts on the ground. It has been approved.

The other thing that we often hear pushback from people around is the remnants, the residual. The residual ends up being about 4 per cent. Taking in all those 325,000 tonnes a year, you end up with 4 ‍per cent which is residual. At the end of that residual there has been amazing recovery of the materials, of metals as well, and that can be recycled and re-used. Also, the end residual can be an inert substance – I have seen it, a grainy sort of inert substance – that can be used in road base to create a far more durable road base. And if there is something that our roads need in Victoria, it is durability, because they are in a sad and woeful state.

Speaking about some of the conditions under which this would operate, Australian Paper’s facility can reduce up to 543,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions with this state-of-the-art system, or the equivalent of taking 100,000 cars off the road. It also can create upwards of 1000 jobs during construction and 900 jobs ongoing. This is very good news for an area that is having diminishing returns in terms of industry and the shutting down of coal-fired power stations and the closure of the native timber industry and therefore mills. We need jobs in the region, and this has to be seen as a win–win–win. In terms of population growth, Victoria is going to continue to grow. Even if we can re-use and recycle to the nth degree, there will still be landfill that is non-recyclable. This is one way to go.

A couple of points on this before I finish. Under part 5 of the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 there is going to be this cost recovery. There are concerns in there – those recurring fees – and we have heard discussion today about the regulator’s enforcement and cost recovery. There is no quantum at the moment – it is all going to be set out in regulations. I have had conversations in relation to this. What does that mean? It is unclear as to the fee that will be charged. If the fee begins now when the licence is approved and yet the facility takes two or three years to finish construction and get up and off the ground, is this government wanting to disincentivise this very workable and positive part of the circular economy? That is a question I have for the government. There needs to be some clarity about what that cost recovery fee would look like.

Given that there are only going to be a handful of operating energy-from-waste licence holders – perhaps six or more, but less than 10 in the next 10 years – this could well be a very significant impost. I do not want that to be a barrier or disincentive, and we do not want this to be code for ‘Let’s fleece the companies’. There needs to be a sensible approach. We also have certain concerns around balance in the support from councils to make it fair and reasonable so that the agreements – the contracts – can still be in the positive to enable these facilities to occur.

I do feel that Recycling Victoria seems to be a duplication of the EPA. With some of those functions, to my mind, there seems to be a doubling up. We do not want more bureaucracy; we need it to be streamlined. I also note that often the Greens like quoting the IPCC – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Indeed one of their recent reports speaks to:

Incineration and industrial co-combustion for waste-to-energy provide significant renewable energy benefits and fossil fuel offsets.

I was quoting the IPCC as a positive for energy from waste. There are some certain questions that I have raised – the minister might like to address those – on fee structures as part of that regular enforcement. But certainly I take a not-oppose position for this bill.

Adem SOMYUREK (Northern Metropolitan) (16:06): I rise to speak in support of the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. The main purposes of the bill are to amend the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 and the Environment Protection Act 2017. The bill amends the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act to do many things, which I will not go into here, because other speakers have. I can value-add to this debate, as a former local government minister at a time of crisis for the local waste management system.

This bill is part of a process of responding to the crisis in Australia’s recycling system following China’s decision in about 2018 or so to stop accepting a wide range of solid waste, including low-grade recyclables, into China. Since we as a country and as a state were so reliant on China for waste processing, China’s policy shift certainly had a profound impact on Victoria, as it did on Australia and as it did on other countries in the world also. Now, the loss of that export market for Australian waste to the tune of over $500 million – I think it was $520 million – as you would expect, put a significant and big financial strain on local councils and the local recycling industry.

In response to the ban the Victorian councils resorted to emergency measures like stockpiling – not ideal – and landfilling, which again was not ideal, as local waste management systems struggled to adapt. I was the local government minister at the time, and I recall spending a lot of time and energy trying to find a solution to this problem. Mind you, I was the local government minister, and that did not make me responsible for that particular issue. The EPA was under the purview of the minister for environment, so the minister for environment had carriage over this issue. But certainly as the local government minister, because local government was at the coalface of the issues that were being faced by the waste management processing system, I saw it as my job to advocate on behalf of local government. I recall at the time that there were stockpiling facilities that were going up in smoke quite regularly. I cannot recall how often, but I seem to recall that quite often there were fires at some of those facilities. Why? Because they were overcrowded and were operating beyond capacity. I saw it as my job. Clearly there was a huge loss of revenue, and therefore local contractors, local operators, had to give back their contracts as they could not continue to operate, and the councils had to sort of absorb those costs. So my job was to advocate within government for more money for local councils.

As a government we decided that it was not just about money; money would have been just putting a bandaid over this issue. We needed a sustainable solution to this problem. We needed a systematic change in Australia’s approach to waste management, including the development of a robust and sustainable local recycling system. I recall, I think it was in 2020, Minister D’Ambrosio as the environment minister introduced a circular economy paper. What followed was a bill and then a subsequent bill. I see this bill as a bit of further fine-tuning as part of the process of changing Victoria’s approach to waste management, in shifting to a more robust and more sustainable model. With that, I commend the bill to the house.

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (16:10): I rise today to support this bill. It is a great thing. It is being celebrated by people all over Victoria, and we saw that within the first day of operation. We had, I believe, a million containers recycled, and within the first week it was 10 million. It does not matter where you go or who you talk to – whether it is individuals or community groups – towns all over the state are absolutely excited. I was just having a bit of a brief look through the interactive map on the cdsvic.org.au website before, which is a great way for people to keep up to date with more and more container deposit facilities that are popping up all around the state. I did not have time to look at the whole electorate, because there are just so many container deposit facilities around, but starting from the east of the eastern region Mallacoota is there. I believe they filled a 20-foot container in the first week, which just shows that all of our towns, no matter where they are across the regions, rural or remote, are getting into it. Orbost, Maffra, Lakes Entrance, Bairnsdale, Loch Sport, Heyfield, Kilmany, Rosedale, Yarram and Sale – there are multiple facilities in some of these towns, and that is just what I could get through in a few minutes looking at the interactive map. It is a great thing that so many people right across the state, no matter where they live, have the opportunity to get involved.

Of course this is a broader piece of work that the state government is doing around the circular economy. It is something that we are absolutely committed to – that is in our DNA. When you look across everything that government is doing to reduce our emissions, to reduce our waste, to have a more sustainable Victoria and to ensure that this sustainability leads to a more economically productive Victoria, it sits there. I often talk in this place about purpose, and we absolutely have a sense of purpose to ensure that every generation of Victorians have a better quality of life than those before them. That is deeply within our DNA. We have seen some debates, even yesterday, with people advocating on the other side for nuclear reactors and whatnot. That sense of purpose and that sense of clarity about where they are going just definitely, definitely seems to be missing.

Diverting waste from landfill – we have got a target on that to get to our goal. Our target is on the way: 80 per cent by 2030. We are looking to cut our waste generation by 15 per cent and to halve the organic matter going to landfill by 2030, which we know is so important because of the emissions that occur in that process. Looking on the other side of it, coming back to that circular economy and coming back to getting the most out of our product, it is making sure that the organic matter is being consumed, but where it is not, it is making sure that it is not going to landfill. In order to hit those goals, we are making sure that households across Victoria have the opportunity to reduce their organic matter, which is a program already well underway.

The other thing I love about this program is that Victoria is a proud state. We are proud for so many reasons, whether it is our arts, our sport or our spectacular scenery, or whether it is Maxwell last week hitting the most incredible 200 runs in an ODI over at the World Cup. Things like this generate immense pride in our state. I think this absolutely taps into that pride, because we believe in keeping our streets clean, keeping our waterways clean, keeping our natural spaces clean and keeping our communities clean so that we are living in one of the best environments in the world. That is something we have been proud of, and we have seen that for many, many years with our Tidy Towns. We have seen towns all over Victoria be so proud to clean their town and compete with each other – there is nothing wrong with a little bit of friendly rivalry – to show how we care for our local places. This program not only enables that, it captures that pride, it captures those environmental outcomes, whether that is emissions, local environment, local species, all these sorts of things. But then it also captures the element of community and pride in community. We know that – and particularly I and Minister Shing, who is also in the chamber – in Eastern Victoria we see that pride in community, whether it is the local sports club, whether it is the schools. As I said before, whether it is art groups, whatever it is, there are so many places of pride, so many places of community connection that have the opportunity now to collect these containers that would have otherwise been going elsewhere and to save that money. So this is another brilliant part of the scheme.

If it is a container deposit facility that is being used, people putting them in can get the voucher, take it to the local supermarket or other store where they can either use the credit or get cash. At other facilities that are being run people can go in and get cash on the spot, or the other brilliant thing is they can have the money donated to a registered charity or a local community organisation that has registered for it as well. I think that spirit is embodied through, whether it is youngsters or oldies, collecting not only to keep their local environment safe but to support local people and local community groups. I just love that image of old and young together collecting this waste to keep things clean and to support each other. I love the saying, if I get it right, ‘There is nothing as beautiful as our elderly planting a tree of which they will never feel the shade.’ That giving for others is a beautiful part of what it is to be Victorian.

What can be recycled: aluminium, glass, plastic, liquid paperboard and cardboard drink containers. Look out for the 10-cent mark on the container; that lets you know that you can recycle it. The lids can stay on. For some other items that are too small – really, really small items – or bigger items over 3 litres, you can still use traditional recycling methods for those, because this is all about ensuring that we are keeping as much product out of landfill as we can and re-using product in that circular economy. And it fits with a number of other policies that we have rolled out. Incredibly popular this year, certainly since I have come into this place, has been eliminating soft plastic use. We know the incredible damage it does, particularly to a lot of our aquatic life, when soft plastics, straws and whatnot enter the waterways. It is simply unnecessary harm.

The community feedback about the government bringing forward these changes – look, there were a few naysayers. Probably some of those opposite were saying the sky would fall in like they always do. Every time we try and take a positive step forward to ensure a better environment and a better quality of life for everyone, the naysayers say ‘Oh, no, we can’t change.’ I think with plastic shopping bags you would have thought we were taking away the air that could be breathed, but we have gone on and we have got a better quality of life. When you look at creeks, when you look at rivers, when you look at streams, they are not filled with plastic bags. The single-use plastic removal – whether that is cutlery or straws, which I was starting to touch on before – has been a really good thing as well. People adapt, and we adopt these things in a way that just sees so much less waste. But I think it also allows people to really be present in their choices and make great choices for themselves, their kids and their grandkids, which is of course what so much of this is about.

Before I get too negative, I must say that Ms Bath did make a pretty good contribution. That is twice I have stood up here in the last two days and said –

A member: What’s going on?

Tom McINTOSH: I know. I think the Nationals are starting to flock to the progressive side of the Liberals. I have said that the Greens and the Nationals are only a shade apart in some of their approaches to politics at times, with some of their negativity and whatnot. But I must say that Ms Bath was making some good comments about sustainability and the way we can approach this in a collective manner, which I think is really important. Because whether it is climate or whether it is environment, it should be above politics, because for the best economic outcomes for all of us – as I have said in here before – we want our farmers to have the best conditions so that they can grow the best products and have the most productive lands so that consumers can go to supermarkets and get goods at the best possible price, so they can feed themselves and their families and live in a climate where we have got moderate temperatures, which we have evolved to and which we can exist in, and so we are not seeing our elderly and our most vulnerable suffering through terrible heatwaves and whatnot. I appreciate those comments.

I must laugh. Mr Davis was over the other side there, as usual harking back to last century and not being able to be in this century or look forward, which is pretty typical of those opposite. I do not know where they want to take us back to, but it is back to the future – we all hop into the car, we go back and we live like it is the 1950s. But anyway, I have touched on that before so I will not touch too much on it again. That negativity that was coming out of them – I think the biggest thing that they could talk about was not crushing the cans. The whole point of this scheme is that people right across the state can get to these facilities – a lot of them can get there 24/7. You do not need to stockpile your whole garage full of cans and take them along once a year. This is the whole point. I think there is constant negativity and constant dragging backwards by those opposite, who can never acknowledge a good policy. Coming back to that point of purpose: we want to advance us, as a state and as a people, forwards. They have got to be negative and drag us back. We see that again with Mr Davis’s comments and negativity.

I have to pick up on a comment from the lower house. I may give my lower house colleagues a bit of stick from time to time, but the contribution of Mr Cianflone, a fine member for Pascoe Vale South, was incredible. I think one of the few Liberal members they have got down there was saying the scheme could not work and nothing was possible and all this sort of stuff. I did love Mr Cianflone’s comment about the coalition deposit scheme – the recycling of leaders, whether it is the member for Malvern, the member for Bulleen a couple of times or the member for Hawthorn. Who is next – Berwick, Sandringham or Kew? I think that was a very, very apt comment, because although they might not be focused on recycling and the environment and climate action, they are definitely very focused on depositing their leaders so someone else can get a go in the seat and move things around for a little bit – give a few more people a few toys before they do it all again.

I have spoken at length about having an understanding of the purpose here to deliver for Victorians – to deliver quality jobs so people can get safe and secure housing, have access to quality health care and make sure they can get the education, skills and training to go back into jobs. The government is putting in the public infrastructure, whether it is public transport or road infrastructure, so people can get from A to B and is doing all that in a sustainable, safe, ongoing climate – which brings me back to what we are talking about here: the circular economy. It is this sense of purpose; those on this side get up every day having a clear vision of what we are about. It is not about people; it is about policy, it is about outcomes and it is about delivering that better quality of life for every generation of Victorians. That is why I think those opposite get so lost on the people stuff, spoiling for that slight climb up the rungs of the ladder of whatever opposition position they are after and getting after each other. But anyway, I will not give the opposition too much more airtime, because I will leave the negativity to them. This side is about positivity and delivering the things Victorians want to see.

I just want to touch on a couple of points on the acts and the amendments the bill makes to them. The bill amends the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 to clarify the cost-recovery mechanism for the container deposit scheme to ensure the scheme regulator head, Recycling Victoria, is able to recover all of its costs associated with the scheme; enable a new periodic licence fee to be prescribed in regulations to provide a mechanism for the head, Recycling Victoria, to recover ongoing costs of monitoring compliance and enforcement activities performed by the head, Recycling Victoria, as the scheme regulator; and establish the Recycling Victoria Fund, divided into the container deposit scheme account and the waste-to-energy scheme account, to support cost recovery for these schemes. The bill will also amend the Environment Protection Act 2017 to allow the Environment Protection Authority Victoria to retain financial assurances in specified circumstances to protect the state from having to bear clean-up costs and will make a number of miscellaneous amendments to improve the operation of the act. This is another fantastic piece of policy from the government that is delivering for Victorians, not only today but into the future.

Sonja TERPSTRA (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (16:26): I rise to also make a contribution on the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023, and I can say I am really pleased to make a contribution on this bill because I was one of the members in 2019 who served on the Environment and Planning Committee recycling inquiry, which looked at a number of matters. One of them was indeed whether Victoria should have a container deposit scheme, but we also looked at other initiatives which would reduce waste to landfill. One of the ideas that came out of that was how to deal with landfill, which is also about waste to energy. I will talk a little bit about the container deposit scheme, but before I do that I will just quickly go into what the point of this bill is.

The bill amends the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 to clarify the cost-recovery mechanism for the container deposit scheme to ensure the scheme regulator head, Recycling Victoria, is able to recover all costs associated with the scheme; enable a new periodic licence fee to be prescribed so that Recycling Victoria can recover ongoing costs of monitoring, compliance and enforcement activities; establish the Recycling Victoria Fund, divided into the container deposit scheme account and the waste-to-energy scheme account, to support cost recovery of those schemes; minimise operational risks for the container deposit scheme and ensure it operates as intended; enable regulations to set variable fees for determining applications made; and make other minor amendments. Further, the bill amends the Environment Protection Act 2017 to allow the EPA to retain financial assurances in specified circumstances to protect the state from having to bear clean-up costs and to make a number of miscellaneous amendments related to the operation of the act. So that is what the bill does.

Of course we have heard many contributions today. Whilst we talk about the technicalities of the bill, the real-world impacts of what the bill seeks to facilitate the operation of is the container deposit scheme. When the inquiry took evidence in relation to recycling in Victoria there were a range of things we looked at. Looking across Australia at the various container deposit schemes was a really interesting exercise. I know there has been some criticism and negativity from those opposite about, you know, ‘Victoria took so long’ and why hadn’t we done this. The reason was because there was a range of differing schemes that operated across Australia – not all states have exactly the same scheme. Even though we were the only state that did not have a container deposit scheme, it put us in a really good position to be able to look across all of the states and see what the best and perhaps maybe the not so great features were of all of the schemes. It really allowed us, when we were looking at the schemes, to cherrypick the best features. We travelled up to New South Wales to look at how the container deposit scheme operated in New South Wales, and we were able to go and visit a Tomra facility – they have the contract up there in New South Wales – to look at the recycling facilities. They also had a vending machine there that was operational. So that was really interesting to see how the plant collected and separated the waste.

We have heard a lot of discussion as well about what a container deposit scheme is actually aimed at doing. A container deposit scheme is principally designed to manage waste. It is not about taking recyclable materials out of the yellow bin, for example, because that is already being recycled at the kerbside point with household collection. What it is really about is litter. It encourages people to gather up litter. This is about whether the manufacturer has signed up to the scheme but also registered those particular containers for collection, but it can be plastic drink bottles, glass bottles, coffee cups and those sorts of things. As long as it is registered and has got the barcode on it, those are the containers that can be redeemed through either a vending machine or another collection point.

What we saw in New South Wales was about three different options for how people could return containers. They were through a vending machine option. You turned up and you put the container into the slot and it read the barcode. Depending on how many containers you had, it then calculated it. At the end of that you had an option to either collect your cash or you could donate your cash to a charity or an organisation of your choosing that had registered through the scheme. It was an amazing thing, and it was really nice to see that element where you could pay it forward. We heard amazing stories of people saving for a trip to Fiji for their honeymoon all through gathering up containers – it was pretty impressive. I thought, ‘Wow, that’s real dedication to recycling’, but what a nice story it was for that couple to say, ‘Oh, we saved for our honeymoon through the recycling scheme.’ That was just one example.

Sporting clubs and the like were able to encourage people to donate the cash that they might have generated through the containers to those clubs. That was one thing, the vending machine, but the other point was you could take them to either a shop or a depot. If there was a St Vincent de Paul or something like that which had a depot, you could back your car in if you had a carload or a vanload of bottles because you had been out there avidly collecting containers. You could back your car or your truck or your van up, and they would collect them for you.

Just the other day I visited a shopfront recycling point in Croydon South, at the Dorset Road shops, and it was amazing. The benefits from this scheme are not just through the collection of waste and recycling. The proprietors of that local shop there – a small business, a grocery shop – were really happy. They told me that on Melbourne Cup Day they had a thousand containers just come through their shop and they were able to recycle those containers. A thousand containers just on Cup Day, and that was a range of containers, whether it be bottles, cans, beverages essentially – everyone likes a bit of a drink on Melbourne Cup Day clearly. The benefits to that small business were that when people came in to redeem their cans or put their cans through the recycling point, while they were there in the shop they might grab a loaf of bread or grab some milk or whatever they needed at that point in time. People who have small businesses and sign up to be collection points are also noticing it bringing more people into their local businesses. That is another benefit as a result of the scheme. That is paying it forward.

The container deposit scheme, as I said, is primarily about litter, but it is also about product stewardship. The manufacturers of those containers who are selling beverages are basically having to take ownership of the container, which is really the container that is designed to hold their product. They have to take responsibility through product stewardship rather than people getting rid of their container, which then becomes waste after the beverage has been consumed. That manufacturer, through that product stewardship scheme, is responsible for the disposal of the container. Again, it is making manufacturers responsible for any waste that they create. That is just one aspect of that scheme. Like I said, I am really pleased to say that we did a thorough analysis looking at all the different schemes, and we talked to the department and we were able to analyse the pluses and minuses in regard to that.

The bill amends the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021, but one of the other schemes we did look at was the waste-to-energy scheme, and we talked about waste-to-energy plants that exist in other countries. These are not a new thing, but they would certainly be new to Australia. I know a number of people are looking into how this might happen. I think there was some concern about not wanting any materials that are recyclable to end up at the waste-to-energy plant and be burnt. Well, that is not the case, because with a focus on a circular economy any products that are made should have more than one life. That feeds into what we talk about when we talk about the circular economy: having more than one life and how things can be used again or re-used.

If a product, however it is made, comes to the end of its useful or productive life and is taken to a waste-to-energy plant and burnt, you can capture gases as a by-product of incineration. All of these things are done in a chamber; these things are not exposed to the elements. But the gases that are created from burning off those products are captured, and rather than having tonnes and tonnes of rubbish and refuse that may have reached the end of its productive life, what is then left is a very much smaller amount of material that can be potentially used in things like road base, if that is appropriate, and other things. Again, even though we are incinerating something that may have reached the end of its productive life, we are still creating something else that can be potentially used.

The good thing about a waste-to-energy plant is that it actually creates energy as a consequence of that incineration. So again, the gases that are produced through the incineration process get captured and also it creates heat and energy. The good thing is that, like I said, we are trying to look at how we can reduce our waste. I mean, on one level, when you look at the rubbish that we create as humans, it is a renewable source of energy, if you like. When we create rubbish, if it cannot be recycled, that then can go to something like a waste-to-energy plant rather than to going into landfill.

The problem we have with landfill is that it also creates gases. It creates methane, and that pollutes the environment, so we have got an issue there. We are going to run out of space for landfill at some point in the future, and this creates problems. It has created problems where we have had old landfill sites, where over the years different authorities have changed and different planning controls have meant that houses have been built on top of very old landfill sites and people have had methane gas coming up through their properties. This can be a problem where there is an old landfill site that all of a sudden has been discovered. The idea of continuing to put rubbish into landfill is an old idea that just creates more problems. So looking at moving away from putting rubbish into landfill is part of, I guess, the shift in thinking about what we can do with our rubbish and how we can recycle and improve what we do with our waste.

The other important and exciting aspect of looking at moving towards zero waste, zero to landfill and waste to energy is that the creation of waste-to-energy plants creates jobs. It creates jobs through people being able to work in these industries, just like with the container deposit scheme where you are going to need people to collect the tins, cans, bottles, containers and whatever they may be to take them to the recycling plant to be recycled. There are upstream and downstream jobs. There are things like truck driving, for example. You need someone to drive the recycling truck to come and pick that up. You need someone to be at the plant sorting the containers.

Likewise, if something is no longer able to be recycled or have a second life, you need somebody at the waste-to-energy plant working out how they are going to sort that. The plant needs to be run, and if you have got a plant, whether it is a recycling plant or a waste-to-energy plant, the other jobs that are needed there could even be in administration or operational things. You are going to need fitters and turners or maintenance fitters onsite as well, and also truck drivers. You are going to need people to maintain equipment. So the creation of jobs that comes with these projects is also admirable and a very important aspect of our policies when we think about the environment. It is not just about making our environment cleaner and better, it is also about the creation of jobs that enable people to have a decent life, a decent living and the ability to put food on their table – and secure jobs as well, not insecure jobs, which we know cause people a lot of stress. In a cost-of-living crisis there is no better way than to have well-paid and secure jobs.

I am really pleased to be able to speak on this bill. As I said, I was a member of the Environment and Planning Committee, which did the inquiry into this. It was one of the biggest inquiries that the Environment and Planning Committee undertook at that time, with many, many witnesses giving evidence before the inquiry and many, many days of hearings. It really was a fascinating insight and look into how we can make our environment better and clean up waste and reduce litter. As has been remarked upon earlier, often these containers end up as rubbish, with people throwing them away perhaps in an unthinking manner. They end up in our waterways, our creeks and rivers, and it is not good.

As part of the inquiry we also looked at another aspect, which does not get picked up by the CDS: plastics and microplastics and small amounts of litter. We have banned single-use plastic bags, and plastic straws we are getting rid of as well. Those are the things that end up in our waterways and end up creating real problems for our marine environment as well. The good position that Victoria was left in, because we had not had a CDS, as I said earlier, was that we were able to look right across the Australian jurisdictions and see how we could pick out aspects from the container deposit schemes that worked the best and make it easier for Victorians to engage with. I might leave my contribution there. It was a real pleasure to speak on this bill, and I commend this bill to the house.

Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (16:40): I rise this afternoon to talk rubbish – not the rubbish that we often hear from those opposite of course but the rubbish that is the CDS, Victoria’s container deposit scheme, and what a wonderful thing it is. As my colleague Ms Terpstra commented, it has been just over two weeks now since the CDS was launched, with providers in the western zone; the northern zone, which covers some of my electorate; and the eastern zone, which covers the vast bulk of my region. What a fantastic thing it has been to see such a strong uptake already. It is 16 November now. It has been 16 days since this scheme launched in Victoria. How many people did we see on the first day take it up? A million products were recycled, and it was 10 million containers in the first week. Was it the first week or to date? Two weeks. It is a remarkable figure, despite whatever claims are put forward by those opposite. I am not sure what their stance has been; sometimes they are taking credit for it, sometimes they are opposing it. They were taking credit for it in the Assembly last week. Apparently the member for Brighton thinks it has been his idea all along. Good for him.

Harriet Shing: The only recycling he’s good at is other people’s ideas.

Michael GALEA: Other people’s ideas, that’s exactly right. I am a bit disappointed in my colleague Mr McIntosh for some of his lines; I think he stole them from me. I was going to mention in terms of the opposition its enthusiasm for the circular economy in recycling its leaders, but I will leave that to far wittier people than me to delve into.

Evan Mulholland: Says the man who backed Ben Carroll.

Michael GALEA: Absolutely. This is a fantastic –

The ACTING PRESIDENT (John Berger): Order! There is a lot of chatter in the chamber.

Michael GALEA: Thank you, Acting President. This bill, the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023, is another big step forward of course for what is this government’s unprecedented investment – $515 million – to transform Victoria’s waste and recycling system. This does include the new standardised four-stream waste and recycling system as well, which supports our target of diverting 80 per cent of all material away from landfill by the year 2030, for the reasons Ms Terpstra went into extensively in her contribution – the absolutely sound reasons why it is such an important target for us to be working for. It does speak for itself, and Ms Terpstra has gone into excellent detail on that, so I will not seek to relitigate that.

It is worth making a few comments on the container deposit scheme, which has already seen 10 million containers put into it, deposited in, just in the last 16 days – how fantastic is that. There are multiple ways in which people can partake in the scheme, whether it is the reverse vending machines, through the various depots, the over-the-counter sites, as well as those pop-up refund points. There are many, many different ways in which people can return their eligible containers. Depending on the type of refund point, people can also choose whether they want to receive the refund in the form of cash in hand, a retail voucher or an electronic refund. They can also of course select a charity to donate their refund to. And what better time to mention that it is of course the month of November, so many of us are acknowledging Movember – none of us quite so much of course as my colleague Mr Tarlamis. It was wonderful to have the Movember team in the Parliament today and to have bipartisan support obviously for that initiative, which is a wonderful thing to see and a wonderful thing for us all to be getting behind, even if some of us have not quite gone as far as Mr Tarlamis with his impressive moustache.

There are a number of collection points across Victoria already. I know I heard some commentary earlier today. Some members opposite seem to misunderstand what a rollout is. They seem to think that it should all be up and running from day one at every single site. But a rollout, by its very definition of course, is just that – a rolled-out program. Already there are a huge number of sites where people can bring their containers to deposit.

I noticed in flicking through contributions last week from that other place with the green carpet – a far less salubrious place than where we are here today of course – that there was some discussion and debate between the member for Mordialloc and the aforementioned member for Brighton. He did not seem to think that there were any container deposit scheme locations in the Mordialloc electorate, and he was rightly corrected by Mr Richardson. There are in fact four locations just in the Mordialloc electorate alone, and it is terrific to see them being attended with great gusto as well.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but in the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region we have a number of depots in Braeside, which is in the Mordialloc electorate too; Carrum Downs; Cheltenham; Frankston; Hallam; Keysborough – also in the Mordialloc electorate; and Mulgrave, which is of course in a very good location there on Wellington Road. It also just happens to be around the corner from a certain campaign office for the wonderful Eden Foster, who I have had the great pleasure of campaigning for as she seeks to fill the seat of Mulgrave. Hopefully it is auspicious for her office to be located near one of the many successful CDS depots that has been opened there in the Mulgrave area.

In addition to the depots there are of course many kiosks in places including Berwick Springs; Braeside, which is in Mordialloc too; Cranbourne North at the Thompson Parkway shopping centre; Cranbourne West; Dandenong; Dingley Village; Frankston; and Casey Central shopping centre, which of course is in Narre Warren South. There is another fantastic member there, the member for Narre Warren South, who I know is a keen recycler and very excited about this initiative as well. I have enjoyed the conversations I have had with him about this program.

As well there are various other over-the-counter and retail drop-off points, including at Cranbourne South; Dandenong; Aspendale Gardens, which is again in the Mordialloc electorate; Beaconsfield Upper; Cranbourne; Doveton; and there is another site in Mulgrave. There are so many places, and that is in the eastern region alone. There are many, many more places across the broader eastern and south-eastern suburbs where people can be, and by all accounts have been, making full use of this container deposit scheme. It is a great thing to see, and I am sure it will continue to go from strength to strength as this scheme enters into its next stage and becomes more and more established. In my patch we have the two providers for the eastern region. They are Return-It as well as Visy, which looks after the northern zone, which covers a small part of my electorate as well.

From the first day, statewide there were 392 collection points available. Obviously I have just gone into some detail about some of the ones in my region, and there are many more in many other pockets of Victoria. This initial network of refund points, where people can go and deposit these containers, will of course grow in 2024 – again, this is what we mean by ‘rollout’– ensuring that the scheme will be accessible to even more Victorians. Glancing at the list earlier I noted that there is a huge amount of regional locations too in many, many small towns right across the state. I particularly enjoyed my colleague Mr McIntosh’s contribution just prior and noted that he cited many towns, and there are many, many, many more towns across Gippsland, across the peninsula and, I am sure, across many other parts of regional Victoria as well. As I said, VicReturn is the scheme coordinator, whilst Return-It, Cleanaway and Visy are responsible for their respective regions. It is all part of the Allan government’s commitment to developing and supporting the circular economy.

This bill, as part of that measure, makes a number of significant amendments to various acts relating to the circular economy and the operation of the CDS, the container deposit scheme. It also seeks to clarify some of the cost recovery mechanisms for the CDS by mitigating the operational risks associated with it to ensure its smooth operation and alignment with its intended purpose. It introduces a mechanism for recovering costs that Recycling Victoria incurs in administering the waste-to-energy scheme by enabling the establishment of periodic licence fees through various regulations. It also creates a dedicated Recycling Victoria Fund with special-purpose operating accounts to facilitate Recycling Victoria to recoup costs and support its operations within the CDS and the broader waste-to-energy scheme. It also allows for the setting of variable fees through regulations for the processing of applications and submissions under the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 and it enhances the Environment Protection Act 2017 to better align with the original intent of the act and improve its overall functionality and effectiveness as well. So this bill amends the circular economy act to clarify cost recovery arrangements to fully recover the costs to Recycling Victoria of regulating the CDS. The bill will create a clear legislative basis for the existing contractual cost recovery fee to be paid by the scheme coordinator to Recycling Victoria.

It also includes a range of other amendments to the circular economy act, which will support the further implementation of this scheme. It will enable regulations to prescribe matters that must be included in a scheme coordinator agreement or network operator agreement. It clarifies that the scheme coordinator or network operator agreement may contain matters that are not specifically listed in the circular economy act. It provides for retrospective validation of agreements with the existing scheme coordinator and network operators to minimise residual risks of provisions in those agreements being challenged as being beyond their power. It allows concurrent contracts between the state and both an incumbent and a successor scheme coordinator. Finally, as well, it amends the definition of ‘material recovery facility’ – MRF – in section 3 of the circular economy act to include any operation prescribed by regulations to be an MRF to provide for participation in the CDS by bottle-crushing service operators and other glass recyclers that do not fall within the existing definition of an MRF, as well as making a range of other minor amendments and clarifications for the CDS.

The bill will further amend the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 to include a cost recovery mechanism to ensure that the beverage industry will bear the cost of the scheme entirely, in line with the principle of extended producer responsibility. This means that the first suppliers of beverage products in the CDS will bear the entire cost of managing beverage containers across their life cycle, taking responsibility in a holistic way for their packaging.

This bill also establishes the Recycling Victoria Fund, without which any fees paid to Recycling Victoria through the container deposit scheme or the waste-to-energy scheme would have gone into the state’s consolidated revenue. This amendment also allows for a dedicated account, to provide for a more efficient, transparent and accountable mechanism, to demonstrate that funds collected from the scheme’s participants are only used to recover the state’s costs in administering and overseeing the scheme. This is important for extended producer responsibility schemes – such as CDS Victoria – intended to function as a closed financial loop. The beverage industry participants funding the scheme will expect the industry contributions to be directed solely to the scheme, and that is what this bill helps to achieve. Creating a dedicated account for this purpose will ensure that that is achieved and provide the appropriate assurance to industry that the funds are being managed and used in line with their reasonable expectations.

There are amendments as well to the Environment Protection Act 2017 to provide that the EPA is not required to automatically release a financial assurance when property or permission is no longer held or when a notice no longer applies to the person who has assured a liquidators disclaimer or another event if environmental and financial risk still exists. This power will protect the EPA and the state of Victoria’s taxpayers from bearing clean-up costs when remediation is still needed. It will ensure that recipients of remedial costs can recover costs from all polluters in the circumstances for which a notice can be issued. It is commonsense, and it is consistent. The polluter should pay, and this change in legislation will enable that.

To conclude my comments today, I do wish to again note what my colleague Ms Terpstra said: we have learned the lessons, we have learned the best practices from other parts of the country, and this is a robust, sound container deposit scheme that all Victorians can have faith in. This is a fantastic initiative, and Victorians clearly are already voting with their feet. Once again, I just note the point that 10 million containers have already been deposited and it has only been open for 16 days, including today of course. There are many, many good reasons to support this bill, because this bill supports our container deposit scheme. With that, I will yield and commend the bill to the house.

Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Skills and TAFE, Minister for Regional Development) (16:55): I would like to thank members for all of their contributions to the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2023. As we saw during the debate in this chamber, there are a lot of good stories and certainly there is a large dose of excitement around about the Allan Labor government’s plan for the circular economy, not least of which is the Victorian container deposit scheme, or the CDS Vic. Since the launch of the Victorian government’s circular economy plan in 2020 the state’s waste and recycling sector has entered a period of dynamic change. The government has used this opportunity to initiate a once-in-a-generation reform across the sector and broaden its bold plans to reduce emissions, reduce waste and create a sustainable future for our children.

As we have heard from a number of people today, I would like to take time to clarify some of the issues that have been put forward. We heard from those opposite that they believe that the rollout of the CDS was, as they described it, chaotic and that it has taken us 10 years to roll out this scheme. I would like to set the record straight here. We have been working hard since 2018 to implement a series of coordinated measures to address the complex issue of waste and recycling. We released the Recycling Industry Strategic Plan that year, a detailed blueprint for a safe, resilient and effective recycling system. In 2020 we released Recycling Victoria: A New Economy, our circular economy plan. With this plan we invested $300 million to overhaul the recycling system. The CDS is one part of our plans to create a sustainable system for our future, and it is only the Allan Labor government that is ensuring that we have a recycling and waste system that is fit for purpose now and for the next generation to come.

We have also heard accusations that due process has not been undertaken prior to the rollout of the scheme and that the operation of these contracts is unclear. To clear this up I can confirm that the contracts are indeed effective. The parties have freely agreed to contracts that they have entered into to administer the CDS, and those contracts are definitely in place. The statutory validation in this bill operates to ensure that the terms of those agreements are enforceable. The bill clarifies authority for matters included in the agreements that are taken to apply and always have applied to the agreements.

We have also heard accusations that there were only 300 sites open on 1 November. I can assure the chamber and I am sure members will be pleased to hear that there were in fact 392 sites that were in operation at the opening of the scheme. And there will be an incredible 600 sites that will be open by August next year, which shows how rapidly we are progressing. I know that members here today will also be glad to hear that there will be up to 15 operational sites in the City of Melbourne LGA by August next year.

I would also like to point out that we are delivering CDS sites for metropolitan Melbourne, our suburbs and our regions. As Minister for Regional Development I am extremely glad to hear that we are focusing on regional and rural areas just as much as our metropolitan areas. I have also heard concerns about the distance between sites in rural areas, and I would like to remind members that regional towns with more than 750 residents and remote towns with more than 300 residents will have at least one refund point when the network is complete by August next year.

Making the scheme as accessible as possible for all Victorians has been one of our main goals from day dot. We have already had an incredible take-up of the CDS in our rural areas. In terms of regional areas, I can give the example of the member for Wendouree in the other place, who visited the new CDS depot in Ballarat. The team there have partnered with the McCallum Disability Services to provide meaningful and stable jobs for locals. They have already processed hundreds of thousands of containers to be recycled, and what a fantastic local story for Victorians.

I would also like to highlight the work of Latrobe Valley Enterprises, who have processed an incredible 115,000 containers in five days alone. What sets Latrobe Valley Enterprises apart is that they accept cans that have been crushed, which I would like to expand on a little bit. There were a number of MPs in the other place who were quite put out by the fact that cans cannot be crushed if they are to be recycled. I am happy to say that you can crush your cans and get a 10-cent refund if you take them to a depot or the over-the-counter recycling centre and the staff can identify the can as eligible under the scheme. As the reverse vending machines have to be able to read the barcode of a can to determine its eligibility, the community is encouraged to keep their cans whole. Those who like to crush their cans will be excited to hear that they can get the best of both worlds; they can crush their cans and get a refund.

There have also been comments about the cost-of-living impact that this scheme will have on the community if drink prices rise to cover the additional costs of the CDS. Costs for collecting and recycling drink containers through CDS Vic are funded by the beverage industry through scheme contributions, and it is expected that these costs will be reflected, similar to what has occurred in other states and territories, when their schemes have commenced. There have also been accusations raised in the other place that the machines do not work and are faulty. I can confirm that there was a very small number of sites that had technical issues, but our fantastic zone operators have been quick to fix them and make sure that Victorians have the best experience possible with our CDS.

I would also remind members that in the first two weeks of the scheme we have seen 7 million containers returned. And hot off the press, I can advise the house that as of yesterday, 15 November, there have been 21.3 million containers deposited. That is an amazing number, I think everyone would agree. And of course that has meant that individual Victorians and Victorian sporting organisations and local community groups have seen $2.1 million back into their pockets. I am sure that everyone would agree that that is significant and has beat our wildest imagination in terms of the success of this fantastic rollout and this fantastic scheme.

We heard from Mr Batchelor about a young constituent who, with the assistance of his parents, has provided a huge number of cans that have been deposited in his electorate. We have also heard from Katie Hall, the member for Footscray, about a constituent – Carol, her name is – who has collected 3000 cans. And in Nick Staikos’s electorate of Bentleigh, Ashton has collected 5000 cans. I have also heard stories from the member for Melton Steve McGhie, who said there is a great crew at the Melton CDS depot who have been working extremely hard for some time and in the first week alone processed over 400,000 containers. Of course I use this as an opportunity to give a great shout-out to Steve, but also the workers at the depot and their partner, the not-for-profit organisation KARI. So again, thank you. Also I can confirm that as of yesterday Tomra Cleanaway, our zone provider in Melbourne’s west, confirmed that they had already collected 10 million containers. Again, what an incredible achievement.

I can also just say, from my own experience on Melbourne Cup Day being in Ararat, I went and had a look at the machine. The car park that it is located in is on the road that goes through Ballarat on the way through to Melbourne, and it was a hive of activity. People were unloading their car boots. They were unloading trailers. They were unloading caravans that had been stored in their sheds that had been piled with cans. Obviously at this time of the year it is important to clear out caravans so that you can actually use them for the purpose that they were originally intended, and that is to go on holiday at some stage. It was great to see how popular it was, and it was also, I have got to say, really powerful to see the gleefulness in the eyes and the activities of the young kids that were helping unload and then load the machines who were anticipating that their pocket money was going to be boosted somewhat as the result of being involved in the activity that day.

Rather than go on about the success of the CDS, I would like to bring us back to what this bill is about today. It is about making sure not only that we have our flagship recycling program financially sustainable in the long term by making sure Recycling Victoria can recover the costs it needs to run the CDS and waste-to-energy scheme but that the burden of recycling our waste should be with the companies creating the waste, and this bill solidifies that point. These amendments are critical to ensuring that we realise the full benefits of the schemes to communities and to the environment, and today we are also considering amendments to the Environment Protection Act 2017 that will keep major polluters accountable and streamline the work done by the EPA. The bill also amends a number of other points that have been covered off by other speakers, and they go to issues pertaining to PSOs, game management officers et cetera. So I will not go into those points at all. They are not controversial, and they are not a point of question for anyone in this chamber or anywhere else.

There was a point that I think Mr Davis had made about the locations of the different recycling points, and what I can say to him is that the list of current locations is available. That will not be an issue at all. But he was also seeking information in terms of the timing and the location of the further rollout of the scheme up to 600 points. I will seek that information, and I take that information on notice, Mr Davis. I am sure that that acquits the undertaking that I have provided to you informally as well.

This is a piece of legislation that this government is incredibly proud of. It acquits a number of things that this government has been pursuing for some time. It is incredibly protective of our environmental system going forward. It talks to industry, it is fit for purpose and of course it is absolutely resonating with many, many Victorians in this state, whether they be young or older. I am sure that there will be a lot of relieved Victorians that are clearing out their spare rooms, garages and sheds who are looking forward to making space or indeed filling them up again so that they can go to the vending machine and get a further 10 cents for every container. It is a great move, and I absolutely applaud everyone that has been involved in the work leading up to today.

Motion agreed to.

Read second time.

Third reading

Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Skills and TAFE, Minister for Regional Development) (17:10): I move, by leave:

That the bill be now read a third time.

Motion agreed to.

Read third time.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Michael Galea): Pursuant to standing order 14.28, the bill will be returned to the Assembly with a message informing them that the Council have agreed to the bill without amendment.